After a family moves into a house they are murdered by an unseen subject, following the tragic event a group of teens discovered that the house where the murders took place is right down the road from where they are camping. They decide to break in and investigate, not long after they encounter an unknown subject, with an unrevealed identity.

Movie Details

Running Time:

74 minutes

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Unrated

Release Date:

November 14, 2017 (USA)

Director:

Jed Brian

Writers:

Jed Brian

Tyler Landers

Cast:

Chris Ash

Levi Atkins

Chloe Benedict

N.C. review:

The found footage movie genre has seen it's fair share of ups and downs. Starting off with the highly controversial Cannibal Holocaust in 1980, then experiencing a huge boom with films like Paranormal Activity, this genre tends to be hit or miss in terms of quality. When they're good, they're great. But when they're not.... well that's a whole other story.

The film that came across my desk this week is an independent found footage slasher called "Unlisted Owner" from director Jed Brian.

While not really breaking any new ground here, I found this film to not be a complete waste of time and I walked away from it not feeling as disappointed as I expected to be.

Without giving too much of the plot away, or delving too deeply into spoiler territory, I will attempt to give a little insight into the backstory. It involves a house that was the scene of a brutal murder of an entire family by a deranged husband/father, many years ago. As you'd expect, the murderer is still rumored to be at large and continuing to murder people at will with a small garden scythe.

First off, let me address the film's strong points. The backstory, while somewhat vague, lends itself well to the story. The film really manages to build the feeling of dread once the action really begins to take off surprisingly well, as each member of the group is picked off one by one after they decide to break into the house to investigate.

The characters are believable for the most part and are thankfully free of the usual "OMG they did not seriously just do that did they" moments that seem to bog down other films of this type.

The kills are thankfully devoid of the usual gore just for the sake of it trope as I've come to expect. Many of the kills occur off camera and the ones we do see tend to be blink or you'll miss it type scenes. The house itself almost becomes a character itself and adds to the suspense surprisingly well.

Now, the not so strong points. As you'd expect, the performances tend to be hit or miss. The main cast of characters do a decent job in their roles, but the supporting actors leave a bit to be desired at times. Many of the characters tend to be quite unlikable and while that is to be expected it almost takes away from the experience itself. The plot almost seems to drag to a standstill towards the middle of the film as we spend time watching the interactions between them and personally I felt like too much time was wasted here. I found myself wanting to actually skip through these scenes to hopefully get to the good stuff.

While it didn't make me hate the film, it certainly made it seem like it was little more than filler to pad it's already short 74 minute run time.

All in all, I found myself enjoying this film in spite of those flaws. I may end up rewatching it soon just to see if there was anything else I missed that might make me understand the backstory more, which in my honest opinion was one of this movie's strong points.

I enjoyed this more than I expected to and I encourage you to give it a look yourself. While not breaking any new ground in terms of story or special effects, I had a good time watching this and I encourage you all to give it a chance as well.